A SUP IN COURT
BOOK OF POEMS USED TO SWEAR IN WITNESS. By Telegraph—Press Association CHRISTCHURCH. May 19. “You will have to prove the case as the defendant is not here,” said Mr H. P. Lawry, S.M., in the Children’s Court this morning when a boy was charged with riding a bicycle without a lamp. The Sergeant hastily called the constable concerned while the fingers of his right hand groped for the Bible, with which to administer the oath. His clutching hand found a book, which was passed to the constable, but it was not the Bible. It was a slim brown volume of essays by A. A. Milne, the noted English playwright and humourist, aptly entitled "Not that it Matters,” which had been left on the desk by mistake. It was unnoticed by the chief actors, and the constable clutched the little book, with Its blue and gold monogram, while the sergeant administered the oath.
Then the ease proceeded, but when the court sitting was over the Magistrate was told of the Sergeant’s mistake.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/THD19340521.2.29
Bibliographic details
Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19804, 21 May 1934, Page 6
Word Count
175A SUP IN COURT Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19804, 21 May 1934, Page 6
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